No Greater Love

At the risk of sounding like an egotistical broken record, last year's post on Good Friday (March 21, 2008) is also pretty good. But this year, thinking about Christ on the cross, I find myself truly moved. This suffering, this sacrifice, this self-gift shows us not only what God is capable of, but what humans are capable of. Today we see the fullest dimension of love on the cross; indeed, there is no greater love than this (John 15:13).

So there are many things we can focus on today. We can think about Christ suffering for us, embracing the cross for us, enduring the humiliation and mockery for us. And we can also reflect on how we respond to Christ in each of these moments. Do we suffer for Christ? Do we embrace the cross given to us (Mark 8:34)? Do we risk persecution, prejudice, and even embarrassment for Him?

Or are we just content to know that we are saved, that Christ paid the price, and we don't have to worry any longer about sin and death? Do we trust in God's grace to love us, strengthen us, heal us, and forgive us -- without any real cost on our end?

Bonhoeffer talks about how obedience precedes faith. It would be easy for us to say that we don't have to follow Christ to the cross because we already believe. We have already been saved. We already "get" what Good Friday is about.

Bonhoeffer says that's taking God's grace and making it "cheap" -- easy, convenient, and banal. When we look at Christ on the cross today, we see his radical obedience to the Father. And this is where our faith begins. First we have to obey. Then faith folows. Bonhoeffer writes, "The disobedient cannot believe; only the obedient believe."

Today we see the cost of the greatest love the world will ever know. And surely we are the ones who benefit. But that doesn't mean avoiding the cost that comes with discipleship. We can't water down Good Friday into "cheap grace," the kind of grace which allows us to go through the motions or make today just another Friday. Instead, we have to embrace the "costly grace" which demands the same sacrificial, suffering, and self-giving love we see in the cross. This is because, like Jesus, we are called to obey the Father, who loves us beyond compare.

It won't be easy, or comfortable, or convenient. But when is love about any of those things, anyway?

Today we see what love is, stripped down, bare, real.

Does the way we love compare?

What does God's love demand of us?

What is the cost of real love?

Christ showed us obedience to the Father until the end.

Will you follow him?